Have you ever used a crankbait as your drop weight from your planner board when trolling spinners in open water?

Answer:
I have actually done this at Saginaw Bay in Michigan. We used to use the Magnum Hot N’ Tots, take off the back hook, tie on a spinner with a short leader (1 to 2 foot). The crank bait pulls the spinner down to the desired depth. A second method is to tie on a three way swivel with a 2 foot piece of line going to your crank bait off one swivel, and a 4 foot snell to your spinner off the other swivel. This is referred to as “stacking”. Both techniques worked to a point. The first method actually affects the action of your bait and it won’t run as consistently. The second method can tangle easily. I’ve found that the In-line weights work much better. Using a 1 to 3 ounce weight – with an attractant – in front of a spinner is deadly for open water walleyes. The attractant can be a small spoon (I use the Wolverine Silver Streaks) or the hot new thing is the XPS Keel weights. These are in-line weights (shaped like a fish) with a holographic finish. The XPS weights pull the spinner to the right depth and the holographics shine and show off color to attract the fish. For either in-line weight system, use a fairly short snell (1 to 3 foot) to the spinner to keep it close to the attractor.